Christine's Outside the Box Clapotis

Once upon a time (2006, maybe?) Katy and I decided to buy outside of our normal color zone at Rhinebeck. I still bought some Brooks Farms Four Play (my favorite yarn!), but instead of my normal Rhinebeck-red, I bought a lovely skein of mauve, green and cream. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but unfortunately didn't work out the way I planned. Basically it sat in the stash for a few years until I finally decided to do something with it. I decided to make a Clapotis, since I think that yarn and that pattern were pretty much made for each other, but still wasn't too gung ho about it. As pretty as it was, it just wasn't "me". So imagine my surprise when my friend Christine came to work after Christmas with a new coat in a perfectly matching shade of green - it was perfect for her. And luckily, she loved it!


Pattern: Clapotis
Yarn: Brooks Farm Four Play
Needles: Size 7
Started: Sometime in 2011
Finished: 1/8/12
My Ravelry Link: Christine's Outside the Box Clapotis

Mark's Striped Scarf

My brother and I don't exchange gifts for Christmas (just for the kids), but for Christmas 2010 I decided to make both he and Janelle scarves. I chose the Noro Striped Scarf pattern, which I love - I think this makes the 4th one I've finished, with one still in progress and plans for a couple more. I just love the way it looks, even if it takes a while with all that ribbing.

Well I finished Janelle's on time, but his languished for a year unfinished. In my current finishing frenzy I finally got around to finishing it this week. I figured since the next "special occasion" wasn't until his birthday in September I'd just give it to him now. He seemed to like it!


Pattern: Noro Striped Scarf
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca in Gray and Black
Needles: Size 8
Started: Sometime in 2010
Finished: 1/10/12
My Ravelry link: Mark's Striped Scarf

Marley's Jane Hat

Since I decided that the Boystown Beanie just wasn’t cutting it for Marley, I decided to try a Jane Hat, using the same grey color since Marley loved it. This was a very fast knit, even though I decided to change to larger needles about half way through (started with 7/9 as per the pattern). The sewn in brim took a while for me to be satisfied, but it was totally worth it in the end. On a funny note, when I got to the decreases I wanted to magic loop it, since I didn’t have any size 10 dpns. The only 40” size 10’s I have are in my addi Click set, but when I went to get them I realized that I was missing a pair. Unfortunately I had put on one size 9 and one size 10 tip, so now I have two sizes of Clicks I can’t use. I started to tear apart my disaster-of-a-craft room, but no luck so far. Hopefully they will show up soon! (And I now own a cheap pair of size 10 dpns!)
Pattern: Jane Hat
Yarn: Lion Brand Vanna's Choice in Charcoal Grey
Needles: Size 8 & 10
Started: 1/6/12
Finished: 1/9/12
My Ravelry Link: Marley's Jane Hat

Toby's Boystown Beanie

I started the year thinking I would be doing a little more charity knitting, so I figured I’d try out the Boystown Beanie, one of She Makes Hats patterns. The jury’s still out on the whole charity-knitting concept, so at first I gave the hat to Marley, who loved the color (it matches her fleece and the grey in her winter jacket perfectly). I don’t think it really works for her (more on that soon, hopefully), so I think it will be for Toby. It was a fun knit which I actually finished in one day, but it was a Sunday, and I knit A LOT that day. But what a great way to start the year off, huh? I had picked this pattern specifically for a charity hat since the ribbing would fit a lot of head sizes, but it really is a lot of ribbing (and I knit ribbing pretty slow). I think I might like to try something with a little more stockinette in the future, although I think the ribbing does make for a pretty warm hat, even if it is just acrylic yarn (hey, it was Sunday – Webs was closed!)
Pattern: Boystown Beanie
Yarn: Lion Brand Vanna's Choice in Charcoal Grey
Needles: Size 9
Started: 1/1/12
Finished: 1/1/12
My Ravelry Link: Boystown Beanie

Back for the New Year with a New Goal

With New Year’s having come and gone, I’ve been thinking quite a bit about what I’m knitting, for whom and how I’m tracking it. I will admit now, I’m a big tracker. I like logs, and keeping track of how many, and how long and how…anything else I can think of. This was very evident in my other life as a cross-stitcher. I don’t show many people my tracking methods for those projects, since very few people can even grasp how crazy it all is.

I’ve found I’ve slacked a bit with my knitting and crocheting projects, and quite frankly, it really bugs me. I like looking back and seeing everything I’ve made and who I made it for. And with a tool like Ravelry, there really is no excuse for how lazy I’ve become. I usually blame it on the fact that I really despise taking pictures of stuff (I never really learned how to do it well), but I can usually coerce my mom into taking pictures, so this really shouldn’t be an excuse. So I’ve decided that this year I will start being better about this. I know I’ll appreciate it down the road.

The other thing I’ve been struggling a little lately with is who I’m knitting for. Like many knitters, I’ve seen the allure of knitting for charity. We have a romanticized view of some poor child in Africa or homeless person downtown receiving a handknitted item and being overwhelmed with the fact that someone somewhere cared enough about them to knit it. Problem is, I don’t think that’s necessarily the case. I’m sure people appreciate things, but someone who is either not a handcrafter or closely connected to a handcrafter (and therefore stuck listening to why handcrafted items are so special all the time) will probably never appreciate a handknit the way I want them to. Some people are perfectly fine with this. They know the value of their work and that’s all that matters. Or, they figure I’m going to craft anyways, why not for a perfect stranger? But I will admit right now, I’m sort of selfish. I WANT MY HANDKNITS APPRECIATED. There, I said it. I like knowing people like what I make. And knitting for someone you love is part of the fun anyways.

That all being said (and 100 crocheted squares for Knit-A-Square in Africa later), I realized that I do love to knit for other people, it just has to be people I know for the most part. I love to follow Robyn of She Makes Hats (who is an incredible charity knitter), and she loves to set goals for herself (like 10,000 hats for charity, friends and family in her lifetime – WOW!). So I’ve decided to borrow her idea and start tracking what I’ve made for other people.

This was a pretty wordy way of saying I’m making more lists, huh?

I would like to keep track of project totals by year – although the early years are a bit fuzzy. They’re over there ----> in the sidebar, with links to Ravelry pages if I have them. Starting this year I’ll try to document them here as well.